What Do You Think You Are?: The Science of What Makes You You - Hardcover

Clegg, Brian

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1785786237 ISBN 13: 9781785786235

Publisher: Icon Books, 2020

Synopsis

'Gets right to the heart of what makes us what we are. Read it!' Angela Saini, author of Inferior and Superior: The Return of Race Science

The popular science equivalent of Who Do You Think You Are?

Popular science master Brian Clegg's new book is an entertaining tour through the science of what makes you you.

From the atomic level, through life and energy to genetics and personality, it explores how the billions of particles which make up you - your DNA, your skin, your memories - have come to be.

It starts with the present-day reader and follows a number of trails to discover their origins: how the atoms in your body were created and how they got to you in space and time, the sources of things you consume, how the living cells of your body developed, where your massive brain and consciousness originated, how human beings evolved and, ultimately, what your personal genetic history reveals.

About this title

About the Author

Brian Clegg is a popular science writer whose Dice World and A Brief History of Infinity were both longlisted for the Royal Society Prize for Science Books. He has written for publications including Nature, The Times and BBC Focus.

From the Back Cover

The popular science equivalent of the TV show Who Do You Think You Are?

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

You are definitely descended from royalty - if you have European ancestors, for example, Charlemagne is in your family tree

The hydrogen in your body was created soon after the Big Bang, around 13.5 billion years ago

The elements in your body are worth around £125

Your conscious mind only deals with a tiny fraction of what your brain does

Around 50 percent of what makes you you is genetic and epigenetic - yet you share 96% of your genes with a chimp (and 60 with a banana)

A big part of what makes you what you are (as opposed to the descendant of a dinosaur) was a cosmic impact on the Earth around 65 million years ago

Edition details

• Publisher: Icon Books
• Publication date: 2020
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1785786237
• ISBN 13: 9781785786235
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288